On the back of her recent lectures, podcast appearances, and engagements about young people and the Church, Commonweal’s executive director Ellen B. Koneck was interviewed in September 2024 by Millennial, a digital publication that aims “to amplify the voices of a younger generation and provide insight and analysis on the issues that matter to the millennial generation.”
Koneck spoke with Millennial editor Robert Christian about a number of topics, including young people in the Church, disaffiliation, and the role of Commonweal in a changing church. Koneck made the case for a hopeful response to these patterns, explaining that “while young people may be doing religion differently than prior generations, those who are religious are flourishing. In other words, their approach to religion is working.” She argued that religious institutions like the Church should see the spirituality of young people as an opportunity for renewal, learning, and dialogue, rather than as a crisis to fret over.
Moreover, Koneck discussed Commonweal's unique position in this evolving environment. "The advantage is simple," she explained. “We are lay-led and independent—we always have been and we always will be. So we are used to operating 'outside' the institutional church while still claiming Catholicism as the tradition into which and from which our work flows.” She notes the similarities between Commonweal's approach and the emerging spiritual practices of young people; “They are on the periphery; they dabble. They explore. They ask questions and make space for doubt,” Koneck explained—just like Commonweal.
Commonweal, Koneck noted, is a space where she feels particularly at home to think and explore. “Not every piece in the magazine or on the website or on the podcast is explicitly ‘Catholic’ or even anchored in a faith-oriented conversation,” Koneck explained. “Commonweal maintains a Catholic sensibility, a Catholic approach to the things we pay attention to, but it doesn’t insert Catholicism as a theme in every subject. That is reductive to Catholicism and faith, I think.”
The full interview can be found here.
